HV 

1701 
C5 


UC-NRLF 


53D 


i 


Talking  Gloves 

For  The  Deaf  and  Blind 


THEIR  VALUE  TO  MEN  INJURED  IN  THE 
PRESENT  WAR 


Talking  Gloves 

For  The   Deaf  and   Blind 


THEIR  VALUE  TO  MEN  INJURED  IN  THE 
PRESENT  WAR 


COPYRIGHT  1917 

Bv 

HAROLD  T.   CLARK 
CLEVELAND,   OHIO 


-  •«•"£•*•    *  •  •••«•«•« l 


TALKING  GLOVES  FOR 
THE  DEAF  AND  BLIND 


THEIR  VALUE  To  MEN  INJURED  IN  THE  PRESENT  WAR 


The  present  war  lias  proven  tremendously  destruc- 
tive to  the  faculties  of  sight  and  hearing,  and  the  num- 
ber of  men  who  will  be  deaf  or  deaf-and-blind  as  a 
result  is  certain  to  be  large.  The  problem  of  keeping 
these  men  in  touch  with  the  world  about  them  despite  the 
loss  of  their  faculties  is  not  an  easy  one,  but  the  conse- 
quences of  so  doing  are  so  important  that  no  efforts 
should  be  spared  to  aid  them. 

The  purpose  of  this  article  is  to  describe  very  briefly 
one  means — the  use  of  a  touch  alphabet  with  a  so-called 
"talking  glove"  —which  has  proven  of  the  utmost  value 
in  the  cases  of  various  deaf  and  deaf-and-blind  persons. 
Although  this  method  of  communication  has,  as  will  be 
hereinafter  shown,  been  used  in  occasional  instances  dur- 
ing the  course  of  several  centuries,  yet  so  little  effort  has 
been  made  to  gather  together  the  information  in  regard 
thereto,  in  the  form  of  a  permanent  record,  that  the  use 
of  a  talking  glove  is  quite  unknown  to  many  persons 
who  have  had  wide  experience  in  the  teaching  of  the 
deaf  and  of  the  blind,  and  one  may  consult  such  a  stan- 
dard work  as  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  (see  article 
on  Deaf -Blind,  Vol.  VII,  Page  893)  without  finding  any 
description  of  such  a  method  of  communication. 

As  a  result  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  as  to  this 
method  there  have  been  within  the  past  sixty  years  at 
least  two  well  established  instances,  hereinafter  men- 
tioned, in  which  touch  alphabets  were  invented  by  deaf 
and  blind  men  who  had  no  knowledge  that  anyone  had 
ever  devised  anything  similar. 

366326 


The  Early  History  of  Finger  Alphabets, 

In  an  article  entitled  "Notes  of  Manual  Spelling, 
Vol.  I,  American  Annals  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  (1886)," 
page  51,  the  following  interesting  statements  appear: 

"The  origin  of  finger  spelling  is  not  known. 
Barrois,  a  distinguished  Orientalist,  in  his  Dactyl- 
ologie  et  Langage  Primitif,  ingeniously  traces  evi- 
dences of  finger-spelling  from  the  Assyrian  antiqui- 
ties down  to  the  Fifteenth  centuries,  upon  monu- 
ments of  art. 

"Bulwer  in  1648  says:  'A  pregnant  example  of 
the  efficacious  nature  of  the  touch  in  supplying  the 
defect  or  temporal  incapacity  of  the  other  senses  we 
have  in  one  Master  Babington  of  Burntwood,  in  the 
County  of  Essex,  an  ingenious  gentleman,  who, 
through  some  sickness,  becoming  deaf,  doth  notwith- 
standing feel  words,  and  as  if  he  had  an  eye  in  his 
finger,  sees  signs  in  the  dark;  whose  wife  discour- 
seth  very  perfectly  with  him  by  a  strange  way  of 
Arthrologie  or  Alphabet  contrived  on  the  joints  of 
his  fingers;  who  taking  by  the  hand  in  the  night 
can  so  discourse  with  him  very  exactly;  for  he  feel- 
ing the  joints  which  she  toucheth  for  letters,  by  them 
collected  into  words,  very  readily  conceives  what 
she  would  suggest  to  him.' 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  precise  arrange- 
ment of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  upon  the  joints  of 
his  fingers  as  contrived  by  Master  Babington  of  Burnt- 
wood  about  270  years  ago,  but  this  does  not  appear. 


George  Dalgarno. 

In  his  book  entitled  "Didascalocophus,  or  the  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Man's  Tutor,"  printed  at  Oxford,  England,  in 
1680,  George  Dalgarno,  who  taught  a  private  grammar- 
school  at  Oxford  for  about  thirty  years,  advocated  in  the 
following  language  the  use  of  a  finger  alphabet: 

"Because  the  conveniency  of  writing  cannot  al- 
ways be  in  readiness,  neither  yet  though  it  could,  is 
it  so  proper  a  medium  of  interpretation  between  per- 
sons present  face  to  face,  as  a  hand  language,  it 
will  therefore  be  necessary  to  teach  the  Dumb  Schol- 
ar a  finger  alphabet;  and  this  not  only  of  single  let- 
ters, but  also  for  the  greater  expedition,  of  double 
and  triple  consonants,  with  which  our  English  doth 
abound. ' ' 

A  copy  of  this  book  is  to  be  found  at  the  Volta 
Bureau  Library,  Washington,  D.  C.,  founded  by  Dr. 
Alexander  Graham  Bell. 

George  Dalgarno,  having  been  the  first  to  give  a 
detailed  explanation  of,  is  sometimes  credited  with  hav- 
ing invented,  the  first  hand  alphabet  for  the  deaf-and- 
dumb  (thus  see  Standard  Dictionary  Twentieth  Century 
Edition,  page  2238),  but  he  did  not  claim  to  have  invented 
this  method  of  communication  (see  Vol.  VII  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica,  page  764). 

The  following  diagram  illustrates  the  arrangement 
of  letters  as  made  by  George  Dalgarno : 


GEORGE  DALGAENO  TOUCH  ALPHABET 
(Palm  of  Left  Hand) 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  George  Dalgarno 
Touch  Alphabet  no  provision  was  made  for  the  letter  J. 
This  was  undoubtedly  because  1  and  J  were  originally 
regarded  only  as  different  ways  of  writing  the  same  let- 
ter. I  and  J  were  treated  as  the  same  letter  in  alpha- 
betic arrangements  as  late  as  Todd's  Johnson's  Diction- 
ary published  in  1818  (See  letter  J  in  Standard  Diction- 
ary, Twentieth  Century  Edition). 

What  use  may  have  been  made  of  the  suggestions 
of  George  Dalgarno  during  the  period  of  nearly  200  years 
that  elapsed  between  the  publication  of  his  book  in  1680 
and  the  adoption  thereof  by  Dr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell 
in  1872,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  If  such  use  was  made  no 
general  circulation  was  given  to  any  account  thereof. 


5 

Dr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell. 

Dr.  Bell  in  a  pamphlet  "Upon  a  Method  of  Teaching 
Language  to  a  Very  Young  Congenitally  Deaf  Child"  ex- 
tracted from  the  American  Annals  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb, 
April,  1883,  Vol.  XXVIII,  Pages  124-139  (a  copy  of  which 
is  to  be  found  at  the  Volta  Bureau,  Washington,  D.  C.), 
in  recounting  how  he  successfully  taught  language  to  a 
five-year-old  boy  in  whose  education  he  had  become  in- 
terested in  October,  1872,  said : 

1  i  The  moment  he  evinced  the  independent  desire 
to  communicate  with  others  by  written  words,  I  felt 
that  the  time  had  come  to  give  him  a  means  of  form- 
ing written  words  for  himself  by  teaching  him  his 
letters  and  a  manual  alphabet. 

"For  this  purpose  I  adopted  the  plan,  recom- 
mended by  George  Dalgarno,  of  writing  the  alphabet 
upon  a  glove.  The  arrangement  of  the  alphabet  I 
adopted  is  shown  in  the  following  diagram: 


TOUCH  ALPHABET  USED  BY 
ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL 

(Palm  of  Left  Hand) 


(Note:  As  is  hereinafter  mentioned,  Henry  G. 
Stephens  used  the  foregoing  alphabet  making  only 
one  change — putting  A  below  Q  instead  of  at  the  top 
of  the  thumb). 

1  i  For  a  long  time  he  was  very  proud  of  his  glove, 
and  was  delighted  to  find  that  he  could  communicate 
with  his  parents  and  friends,  and  they  with  him,  by 
simply  pointing  at  the  letters  on  his  hand. 

"In  communicating  with  me  it  was  unnecessary 
for  him  to  wear  the  glove,  as  we  both  remembered  the 
places  of  the  letters.  *  *  * 

"He  did  not  require  to  look;  he  could  feel  where 
he  was  touched.  He  recognized  the  words  in  this 
way,  however  rapidly  I  spelled  them  upon  his  hand. 


As  I  had  five  fingers,  I  could  touch  five  letters  simul- 
taneously, if  I  so  desired,  and  a  little  practice  en- 
abled me  to  play  upon  his  hand  as  one  would  play 
upon  the  keys  of  a  piano  and  quite  as  rapidly. 

"I  could  also  give  emphasis  by  pressure  upon 
Hie  fingers  and  group  the  words  together  as  they 
would  be  grouped  in  utterance,  leaving  pauses,  here 
and  there,  corresponding  to  the  pauses  made  in  actual 
speech. 

*********** 

"The  use  of  the  glove  alphabet  was  so  little  no- 
ticeable that  I  could  talk  to  him  very  freely  in  a 
crowd  without  attracting  the  attention  of  others.  I 
took  him  to  Barnum's  Museum,  and  talked  to  him 
all  the  time  the  lions  were  being  fed,  and  I  am  sure 
that  no  one  among  the  spectators  had  the  slightest 
suspicion  that  the  boy  was  deaf. ' ' 

In  an  interview  had  with  Dr.  Bell  at  his  home  in 
Washington,  in  February,  1917,  he  recounted  more  at 
length  some  of  the  incidents  above  mentioned,  and 
stated  that  his  experience  with  the  use  of  a  touch  alpha- 
bet had  convinced  him  that  it  is  a  very  rapid  and  impor- 
tant method  of  communication.  Dr.  Bell  was  greatly  in- 
terested to  learn  that  definite  steps  are  being  taken  to 
spread  a  knowledge  of  this  method  among  those  who  may 
be  called  upon  to  care  for  soldiers  suffering  affliction 
in  the  present  war. 

How  many  lives  may  have  been  brightened  by  hav- 
ing passed  on  to  them  a  knowledge  of  the  touch  alphabet, 
as  suggested  by  George  Dalgarno  in  1680  and  improved 
by  Dr.  Bell  in  1872,  is  unknown,  but  one  instance,  that  of 
Henry  G.  Stephens  of  Stratford,  Connecticut,  is  espec- 
ially striking. 


8 

Henry  G.  Stephens. 

Mr.  Henry  G.- Stephens  died  on  March  24th,  1917,  at 
the  age  of  eighty  years,  during  the  last  thirty  years  of 
which  he  was  totally  deaf  and  totally  blind,  the  result  of 
three  years  of  service  with  the  Thirty-first  Eegiment, 
New  York  Volunteers,  in  the  Civil  War.  Like  those  who 
will  be  mentioned  later  in  this  article,  he  was  a  splendid 
example  of  a  man  who  broke  down  all  barriers  that 
threatened  to  separate  him  from  the  world  about  him. 
The  following  brief  account  of  his  life,  which  embodies 
an  interesting  reference  to  his  use  of  the  touch  alphabet, 
a  knowledge  of  which  he  acquired  from  Dr.  Alexander 
Graham  Bell  in  1887  or  1888,  is  taken  from  a  newspaper 
account  written  at  the  time  of  his  death: 

"He  was  born  in  New  York  February  8,  1837. 
When  he  was  twenty  years  old  he  married.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  found  it  difficult  to  make  a  livelihood 
and  shipped  as  a  sailor  from  New  Bedford  on  a 
sailing  vessel. 

"After  he  was  well  at  sea  he  was  told  and  also 
liis  companions,  that  he  had  signed  articles  binding 
him  to  the  master  of  the  ship  for  four  years.  He  pro- 
tested against  this,  and  when  the  ship  landed  at  Peru 
he  and  his  companions  ran  away.  After  his  ship  de- 
parted he  and  his  companions  were  discovered  and 
arrested  and  thrown  into  jail  and  treated  with  great 
brutality.  In  the  course  of  time  they  made  their  way 
back  home. 

"Soon  after,  in  1861,  Mr.  Stephens  enlisted  in 
the  31st  Regiment,  New  York  Volunteers.  After 
about  three  years  of  faithful  service  he  was  mustered 
out.  But  he  was  blind  in  one  eye  and  serious  disease 
had  destroyed  his  hearing.  In  the  course  of  time 
the  other  eye  gave  him  much  trouble  and  the  sight 
gradually  faded  away.  So  by  the  time  he  was  fifty 
years  old  he  found  himself  totally  deaf  and  totally 
blind.  But  he  was  a  man  of  perseverance.  He  was 
for  many  years  a  correspondent  of  the  New  York 


9 

and  Boston  papers.  He  took  an  <  active  interest  in 
all  that  was  going  on.  When  he  was  fifty-one  years 
of  age  lie  undertook  to  learn  to  read  books  especially 
printed  for  the  blind.  He  was  told  that  it  was  almost 
an  impossibility  to  do  so  at  that  age.  But  he  suc- 
ceeded in  becoming  an  expert  reader.  Then  Prof. 
Bell  sent  him  an  account  of  his  touch  method  of 
reading  from  hand  to  hand.  He  and  his  wife  made 
a  careful  study  of  this  and  finally  perfected  the 
system.  A  common  lisle  glove  was  used  on  the  left 
hand.  On  that  were  stamped  the  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet. If  a  person  wanted  to  talk  with  him  he  touched 
the  letters  and  so  spelled  out  words.  And  Mr.  Ste- 
phens knew  by  the  location  what  letter  it  was.  The 
day  before  his  death  his  pastor  visited  him  and  had 
an  interesting  conversation  with  him  by  this  method. 
He  claimed  that  the  system  was  the  best  that  liad 
ever  been  devised  for  talking  with  people  totally 
deaf  and  partially  or  totally  blind,  and  that  it  would 
be  a  great  boon  to  all  such  sufferers.  In  spite  of 
the  fact  that  he  was  thus  handicapped  he  was  re- 
markably well  informed,  and  eager  to  learn  all  that 
was  going  on." 

Before  turning  to  the  consideration  of  other  touch 
alphabet  systems,  and  in  order  to  emphasize  the  simplic- 
ity and  value  of  the  marked  glove  method,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  a  knowledge  thereof  was  carried  from  Mr. 
Stephens  to  Mrs.  Lucy  Ann  Whitlock,  a  deaf  and  blind 
woman  residing  at  Ansonia,  Connecticut,  who  learned 
the  system  when  she  was  nearly  seventy  years  of  age, 
and  has  been  using  it  with  great  success  for  the  past 
eighteen  years. 


10 

Other  Finger  Alphabets,. 
Independently  Invented. 

Although,  as  we  have  seen,  the  idea  of  using  a  talk- 
ing glove  is  an  old  one,  yet,  because  no  general  knowledge 
of  such  a  method  had  ever  been  spread,  it  was  necessary 
for  at  least  two  deaf  and  blind  men  to  work  out  systems 
for  themselves.  One  of  these  was  Mr.  Morrison  Heady, 
of  Louisville,  Kentucky, — the  other  Dr.  William  Terry, 
of  Ansonia,  Connecticut. 

Morrison  Heady. 

Mr.  Morrison  Heady  was  born  on  July  19th,  1829, 
and  died  on  December  20th,  1915,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six 
years.  He  was  totally  blind  for  about  seventy  years 
and  totally  deaf  over  forty-five  years,  yet  in  spite  of 
these  handicaps  he  lived  a  full,  useful  life.  Of  his  many 
achievements  as  an  author  and  inventor,  it  is  impossible 
to  speak  within  the  limits  of  this  article.  A  good  account 
was  published  in  the  Louisville  Herald  for  July  31,  1910, 
and  another  in  the  New  York  Times  for  January  4th, 
1914.  The  latter  contains  the  following  statement  rela- 
tive to  Mr.  Heady 's  talking  glove,  the  idea  of  which  was 
wholly  original  with  him  and  worked  out  about  the  year 
1860  without  suggestion  from  any  one: 

' '  It  was  through  the  first  and  most  important  of 
all  Mr.  Heady 's  inventions  that  the  blighting  dark- 
ness was  in  a  measure  dispelled  and  a  means  pro- 
vided through  which  he  could  communicate  with  his 
fellow  men.  This  was  his  letter  glove  of  thin  yellow 
cotton,  on  the  palm  and  fingers  of  which  are  stamped 
in  black  in  alphabetical  order  the  twenty-six  letters  of 
the  alphabet.  With  comparatively  little  practice  he 
learned  to  distinguish  the  positions  of  the  various 
letters  on  the  glove,  and  then  it  was  an  easy  matter 
for  him  to  make  out  any  words  as  this  or  that  friend 
spelled  them  with  careful  finger  on  the  glove.  His 


11 

best  friends — those  who  spelled  to  him  often — can 
now  tap  out  words  upon  his  glove  almost  as  fast  as 
an  expert  typewriter  moves. ' ' 

From  this  account  we  quote  also  the  following: 

"Never  for  a  moment  has  Mr.  Heady  lost  touch 
with  the  world.  If  you  wish  any  figures  on  the  cost 
of  the  Panama  Canal;  if  you  are  looking  for  expert 
information  about  the  East  River  Tunnel;  if  you 
are  interested  in  monorail  cars,  aeroplanes,  automo- 
biles, radium — you  will  find  a  mine  of  information 
in  the  discourse  of  this  octogenarian  blind  man." 

The  following  diagram  shows  the  arrangement  of 
letters  upon  Mr.  Heady 's  glove. 

TOUCH  ALPHABET  INVENTED  BY 
MORRISON  HEADY 
(Palm  of  Right  Hand) 


12 

The  other  system  which  is  known  to  have  been  work- 
ed out  through  wholly  independent  discovery  is  the  Wil- 
liam Terry  Touch  Alphabet,  invented  by  Dr.  William 
Terry,  of  Ansonia,  Connecticut. 

Dr.  William  Terry. 

Dr.  William  Terry  was  born  at  Enfield,  Connecticut, 
June  8th,  1822,  and  died  at  Ansonia,  Connecticut,  Janu- 
ary 14th,  1908,  in  his  eighty-sixth  year.  He  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  Civil  War  and  lost  his  hearing  largely  as  a  result 
of  exposure  and  nervous  strain  while  in  the  service. 
When  he  was  seventy  years  old  he  became  totally  blind 
also.  To  quote  from  a  statement  which  he  made  when 
he  was  eighty-two: 

"I  found  myself  a  dozen  years  ago  in  what  the 
wonderful  Miss  Helen  Keller  calls  the  valley  of  two- 
fold solitude,  totally  deaf  and  blind.  I  could  con- 
verse with  no  one,  and  had  to  invent  a  system  of 
touch  alphabet  for  the  hand,  which  by  the  use  of 
a  marked  glove,  has  enabled  me  to  enjoy  the  bene- 
fits of  conversation.  I  would  that  the  system  might 
benefit  many  others  as  it  has  me.  No  other  system 
would  have  served  me  so  well.  By  it  I  have  been 
kept  well  informed  on  current  events  and  in  sympa- 
thy with  the  rapidly  advanced  and  ever  advancing 
philanthropy  and  Christianity  of  our  blessed  times. " 

The  following  illustration  shows  the  arrangement  of 
letters  as  made  by  Dr.  Terry: 


0-1 
CQ 


a 


14: 

This  is  an  especially  good  arrangement ;  it  is  compact 
and  orderly  and  brings  the  vowels  and  letters  most  fre- 
quently used  in  places  on  the  hand  where  they  are  readily 
found.  By  putting  five  of  the  letters  on  the  finger  nails 
it  is  possible  to  reduce  the  number  arranged  upon  the 
front  of  the  hand  and  to  place  them  farther  apart,  thereby 
making  the  most  effective  use  possible  of  the  creases  at 
the  joints  as  an  aid  in  determining  quickly  the  exact  spot 
touched.  Either  right  or  left  hand  may  be  used.  Dr. 
Terry  found  his  right  hand  more  sensitive  to  touch  and 
therefore  used  it. 

It  was  Dr.  Terry's  custom  to  keep  a  marked  glove  in 
his  pocket.  Whenever  any  one  came  to  see  him  he  would 
reach  in  his  pocket,  put  on  the  glove  and  enjoy  a  good 
visit.  For  fifteen  years  he  was  thus  able  to  keep  in  close 
touch  with  such  of  his  relatives  and  friends  as  lived  near 
him.  Those  who  lived  at  a  distance  wrote  letters  which 
were  read  to  him,  and  hardly  a  day  passed  during  this 
entire  period  of  fifteen  years  without  his  learning  the 
news  immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  the  daily  paper. 
As  a  result  of  his  talks  with  different  people,  each  one  of 
whom  would  bring  him  some  item  of  information  from 
the  world  at  large,  he  acquired  a  remarkable  knowledge  of 
current  events.  This  frequently  led  him  to  ask  questions 
as  to  the  details  of  scientific  discoveries  and  of  political 
or  economic  movements  at  home  and  abroad,  which  made 
his  seeing,  but  less  well  informed,  friends  feel  quite 
abashed. 

The  alphabet  affords  an  excellent  method  of  talking 
with  the  deaf  as  well  as  with  the  deaf  and  blind.  It  has 
been  used  with  great  success  as  the  medium  of  communi- 
cation between  two  deaf  people  and  also  between  a  person 
who  is  deaf  and  one  who  is  deaf  and  blind.  After  the 
alphabet  has  been  memorized,  wrhich  experience  has 
proven  takes  only  an  hour  or  two,  it  is  unnecessary  to 


15 

use  the  white  glove.  When  the  glove  is  not  used,  the 
system  is  much  less  conspicuous  than  the  usual  deaf 
alphabet  signs,  and  can  be  used  without  attracting  the 
least  attention  by  two  people  pitting  near  each  other  in 
church,  at  the  theatre,  on  a  train,  or  elsewhere.  It  per- 
mits of  use  at  a  considerable  distance  and  has  been  found 
in  practice  to  be  of  great  value  to  deaf  people  at  the  din- 
ner table.  One  member  of  the  family  who  knows  the 
system  can,  without  attracting  any  attention,  keep  a  deaf 
member  or  guest,  even  though  seated  at  the  other  end  of 
the  table,  fully  advised  as  to  the  subjects  under  discus- 
sion, and  thus  make  it  possible  for  him  to  take  part  in 
the  conversation.  Even  to  those  who  read  the  lips  read- 
ily, the  alphabet  is  helpful  for  spelling  out  proper  names 
or  other  unusual  words. 

The  writer  of  this  article  has  printed  for  private 
circulation  a  pamphlet  describing  at  length  the  William 
Terry  Touch  Alphabet,  together  with  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  achievements  of  Dr.  Terry  during  fifteen  years  of 
total  blindness  and  deafness.  The  pamphlet  has  been 
translated  into  French  by  a  Belgian  soldier,  and  copies 
thereof  in  either  English  or  French  will  be  mailed  free 
to  anyone  who  will  address  a  request  to  Harold  T.  Clark, 
at  1201  Leader-News  Building,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

At  the  request  of  the  Vocational  Secretary  of  the 
Military  Hospitals  Commission  of  Canada,  copies  have 
been  sent  to  the  Vocational  Secretaries  of  all  the  Canadian 
Provinces,  who  are  in  immediate  charge  of  caring  for 
disabled  soldiers. 

Letters  commending  th:3  William  Terry  system  have 
been  received  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Prior  to  issuing  the  pamphlet  in  September,  1916, 
the  writer  made  diligent  inquiry  to  learn  whether  there 
was  any  touch  alphabet  in  general  use  or  about  which 
there  was  any  sort  of  general  knowledge.  This  investi- 


16 

Cation  failed  to  disclose  any  such  system  and  it  was 
only  as  a  result  of  a  rather  wide  distribution  of  the 
pamphlet  that  from  one  source  or  another  leads  were 
found  that  made  it  possible  to  obtain  the  facts  herein- 
above  given  with  respect  to  various  instances  in  which 
talking  gloves  have  been  successfully  used.  There  may 
have  been  other  cases  known  to  readers  of  this  article 
in  which  some  of  the  systems  hereinabove  mentioned,  or 
indeed  some  entirely  different  systems,  have  proven  help- 
ful,— if  so,  the  writer  would  like  to  know  of  them. 


DR.   WILLIAM   TERRY. 

HAVING  THE  DAILY  PAPER  READ  TO  HIM  BY  MEANS  OF  HIS 
TOUCH  ALPHABET  SYSTEM. 


17 

General  Principles  Underlying  all  the 
Touch  Alphabet  Systems. 

All  of  the  talking  glove  systems  hereinabove  de- 
scribed are  for  use  with  one  hand,  either  the  right  or  left 
hand  as  may  be  preferred.  The  basic  principles  underly- 
ing all  are  the  same,  although  the  arrangement  of  letters 
may  differ.  The  most  essential  thing  is  to  have  the  let- 
ters placed  where  the  sense  of  touch  is  most  acute,  or  at 
least  where  the  exact  spot  touched  can  be  localized  quick- 
ly. The  next  is  to  have  the  letters  arranged  so  as  to  be 
most  readily  found  by  the  speaker,  who  frequently  is  one 
who  never  made  use  of  a  marked  glove  before,  and  at  the 
same  time  fit  into  some  orderly  scheme  that  may  be  easily 
carried  in  the  mind  of  the  deaf  or  deaf  and  blind  person. 

In  talking  with  elderly  persons  by  the  marked  glove 
method  it  has  been  found  easiest  to  have  the  letters  go  in 
their  regular  alphabetical  order  from  one  side  to  the  other 
or  up  and  down,  rather  than  make  some  different  arrange- 
ment thereof.  The  slight  loss  in  speed  is  more  than  made 
up  in  accuracy. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  in  the  case  of  young  or 
middle-aged  deaf  and  blind  persons,  various  advantages 
could  be  gained  by  arranging  the  letters  on  the  fingers, 
having  special  regard  to  the  frequency  of  their  use  and 
the  combinations  in  which  they  are  most  likely  to  occur, 
as  is  done  in  the  universal  keyboard  of  a  typewriter  or 
linotype  machine;  that  such  a  plan  would  increase  the 
speed  of  communication  and  would  also  have  the  follow- 
ing advantages: 

1.  A  blind  person  who  uses  a  typewriter  (as  many 
do)  would  be  able  to  talk  to  the  deaf -blind  person  more 
freely. 

2.  The  deaf -blind  person  himself  would  be  more 
readily  able  to  use  a  typewriter  after  being  accustomed 
to  this  arrangement  of  letters  on  the  glove. 


18 


Various  suggestions  have  been  offered  as  the  "best 
universal  arrangement  of  letters  upon  a  talking  glove 
and  as  the  result  of  experience  which  is  being  gathered 
in  the  United  States  and  England  it  is  possible  that  such 
an  improved  arrangement  may  be  worked  out. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  we  may  feel  entirely  safe 
in  urging  the  use  of  any  of  the  arrangements  of  letters 
mentioned  in  this  article,  for  they  have  stood  the  test  of 
years  of  actual  experience  under  the  most  adverse  con- 
ditions. 

An  English  Two-handed  System. 

In  England  some  use  is  made  of  a  two-handed  sys- 
tem, as  shown  in  the  following  illustration: 


The  following  explanation  accompanied  the  forego- 
ing photograph: 

"GLOVES  FOR  THE  DEAF-BLIND. 
The  above  photograph  illustrates  a  method  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Leslie  Callard,  of  St.  Albans,  by  which 


19 

an  inexperienced  person  can  communicate  with  one 
who  is  deaf-blind.  Should  the  deaf-blind  be  also 
dumb,  he  can  speak  to  the  sighted  by  simply  pointing 
out  the  letters  of  the  message  he  wishes  to  convey 
with  the  index  finger  of  either  hand  on  his  own 
gloved  hands  and  it  can  be  read  by  the  sighted.  The 
letters  are  arranged  in  alphabetical  order,  one  on 
each  finger  joint,  and  the  figures  on  the  nails." 

In  a  pamphlet  issued  by  Miss  M.  Christine  Baylis, 
Hon.  Secretary  of  The  Deaf-Blind  Blessing  Society  of 
Worcester,  England,  the  following  statement  is  made: 

"These  gloves  are  a  splendid  invention.  The 
letters  of  the  ordinary  sighted  alphabet  are  printed 
upon  the  backs,  rendering  a  conversation  quite  easy 
between  a  sighted  person  and  a  deaf -blind  person, 
even  though  the  former  has  never  seen  these  gloves 
before.  The  position  of  the  letters  must  be  thor- 
oughly memorized  by  the  deaf-blind  person,  however, 
if  conversation  is  to  flow  easily." 

Summary  Advantage  of  a 
Touch  Alphabet  System. 

The  advantages  of  a  touch  alphabet  system  as  a 
method  of  communicating  with  the  deaf,  and  especially 
with  the  deaf  and  blind,  have  been  so  well  stated  in  the 
quotations  hereinabove  given  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
do  more  than  summarize  them:— 

1.  By  the  use  of  a  marked  glove  the  deaf-and-blind 
person  -can  converse  with  any  one  even  though  such  other 
person  had  no  previous  knowledge  of  the  system.  The 
only  ability  required  is  that  of  touching  the  marked  let- 
ters just  as  one  would  touch  the  keys  of  a  typewriter. 
The  simplicity  of  the  system  immediately  widens  the  con- 
tact of  the  afflicted  person  with  the  world  about  him, 
because  it  enables  him  to  converse  not  simply  with  one 
or  more  members  of  his  household  who  may  happen  to 
know  a  particular  system  of  communication,  such  as  the 


20 

ordinary  manual  alphabet,  but  with  any  one.    This  is  a 
wonderful  boon. 

2.  The  apparatus  required  is  of  the  simplest, — only 
an  inexpensive  marked  white  glove  which  can  be  tucked 
in  a  pocket  and  put  on  instantly  when  needed.     To  one 
familiar  with  the  system  the  glove  is  unnecessary.  Single 
gloves  are  easily  lettered  with  a  pen  and  indelible  ink. 
Gloves  in  any  larger  quantity  are  readily  marked  with 
a  rubber  stamp. 

3.  Such  a  system  is  very  easy  to  learn  and  use.    No 
further  argument  upon  this  point  is  needed  than  the  fol- 
lowing schedule  showing  the  periods  during  which  some 
of  the  deaf  and  blind  persons  mentioned  in  this  article 
made  use  of  this  method  of  communication : 

Age  While  Using  Touch 
Names  Alphabet  System 

Henry  G.  Stephens 50  to  80  years 

Lucy  Ann  Whitlock 70  to  85  years 

Morrison  Heady 40  to  86  years 

William  Terry 70  to  85  years 

4.  The  speed  obtainable  is  quite  remarkable.     The 
deaf  and  blind  person  soon  learns  word  and  sentence  con- 
struction and  anticipates  what  is  coming,  so  that  in  con- 
versing it  is  unnecessary  to  spell  out  all  of  every  sentence 
or  indeed  of  every  word.    Moreover  certain  word  signs 
or  contractions  are  easily  worked  out,  which  increase 
the  speed. 

To  quote  Dr.  Bell  again: 

"He  did  not  require  to  look;  he  could  feel  where 
he  was  touched.  Pie  recognized  the  words  in  this 
way,  however  rapidly  I  spelled  them  upon  his  hand. 
As  I  had  five  fingers,  I  could  touch  five  letters  simul- 
taneously, if  I  so  desired,  and  a  little  practice  en- 
abled me  to  £>lay  upon  his  hand  as  one  would  play 
upon  the  keys  of  a  piano,  and  quite  as  rapidly. ' ' 


21 

The  reason  why  so  many  blind  and  blind-and-deaf 
people  go  through  the  world  as  burdens  upon  their  fam- 
ilies, friends  or  the  community  at  large  is  because  we 
seeing  people  are  as  to  many  things  more  blind  than  they. 
We  do  not  realize  that  they,  like  we,  must  be  kept  in 
touch  with  the  surging  world  or  else  soon  fall  behind. 
The  testimony  of  every  witness  whom  it  is  possible  to 
summon,  from  Master  Babington,  of  Burntwood,  two 
hundred  and  seventy  years  ago,  down  to  the  present 
time,  is  unanimously  favorable  to  the  touch  alphabet 
system  as  the  best  method  of  preserving  this  desired 
contact. 

HAROLD  T.  CLARK. 

1201  Leader-News  Building, 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 
November  15th,  1917. 


LOAN  DEPT. 


